Yolo Akili

Yolo Akili (born October 14, 1981 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida), also known as Yolo Akili Robinson, is an activist, writer, poet, counselor, and community organizer who advocates for addressing mental and emotional health needs in the Black community. He is the author of Dear Universe: Letters of Affirmation and Empowerment,[1][2] and the founder and executive director of BEAM (Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective).[3][4]

Yolo Akili speaking with his fellow panelists.

Early career

Born Michael Todd Robinson Jr, after graduating from Georgia State University with a degree in Women's and African American Studies, he adopted the name Yolo Akili. In the years following graduation, Akili worked as a counselor, yoga instructor and poet. During this period he released a spoken word album of poetic meditations ruminating on sexual identity called Purple Galaxy.[5]

Moving into work as a community organizer, Akili joined AID Atlanta's HIV prevention team and served as a life support counselor at National AIDS & Education Services to Minorities (NAESM). Collaborating with Charles Stephens, Akili co-founded Sweet Tea: Southern Queer Men’s Collective, a group of queer pro-feminist dedicated to combating sexism.[6] As the regional training coordinator of Men Stopping Violence (MSV), Akili developed batterer intervention programs geared towards educating heterosexual African American men in their 40s about abetting violence and sexism against women.[7]

In conjunction with this work, Akili began to focus on disentangling victims of violence from abusive patterns. Writing for Shondaland, Akili detailed his own struggle with overcoming domestic violence, the shame that afflicts members of the LBGTQ+ community who feel trapped in abusive relationships, and the need for victims of trauma to avoid normalizing destructive behaviour.[8] During his time as a counselor, Akili saw that there were institutional barriers in place throughout the country that were preventing members of the Black community from engaging with their emotional healthcare needs, particularly after witnessing an HIV-testing counselor fail to connect a patient with care while working in Atlanta.[9]

BEAM

Seeking to address the disconnect between mental healthcare access in the Black community, and fed up with the failure of HIV/AIDS and domestic violence organizations to recognize the intersection between emotional trauma, recovery, and abuse, Akili founded BEAM, "Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective".[10] Named in honor of Joseph Beam, the cultural and political activist who inspired Akili to reflect on his personal vulnerability as a Black gay man, BEAM works with a collection of artists, healers, advocates, legal professionals, activists, and religious leaders to provide mental and emotional healthcare to the historically marginalized and medically mistreated Black community.[11][12][13][14] Akili has stated that BEAM's goal is to “remove the barriers Black people experience getting access to mental health care and healing.” He has also cited the lack of emotional health support from licensed professionals as inspiration for training people in Black communities—from grocery clerks to aunties to barbers—to provide help where none would otherwise exist.[15]

Through BEAM, Akili sponsors community engagement events that teach Black people how to recognize their emotional needs, develop self-care practices, and pinpoint specific organizations that offer help when trauma becomes unbearable. He also delivers grants to mental healthcare groups across the nation that engage with traditionally neglected communities.[16] BEAM's outreach events have featured panels of notable mental health experts and activist including Jenifer Lewis, Raquel Willis, Patrisse Cullors, Vanessa Baden, Dr. Consuela Ward, Dr. Moya Bailley, Tre'Vell Andeson, James Bland, Nathan Hale Williams, Grant Emerson Harvey, Darryl Stephens, and Aaryn Lang.[17][18]

Other work

Advocacy and writing

Akili is an advocate for feminism, denouncing misogyny throughout the gay community,[19] rejecting the agency that some gay men feel to fondle women's bodies,[20][21] recognizing the need for therapy and addressing one's emotional well-being in the Black community (as opposed to self medicating or pushing through),[22] embracing the "permission to get better: 'Healing is our birthright',[23] and overcoming the vestiges of HIV/AIDS panic and trauma from the medical industrial complex in the Black community.[24][25]

In 2015 he helped lead the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles' study into improving HIV treatment among young Black and Latino men (HYM).[26][27] His writing has appeared in numerous publications including, TheBody.com, Essence, Everyday Feminism, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, Cassius,[28][29] and Shondaland. As a contributor to HuffPost, he has challenged the power dynamics between sex roles in same-gender relationships, writing "...because a “bottom” still means weak, and “top” still means power — This is a call to become clearer to each other outside of checked boxes on Grindr or stats listed on Jacked",[30] demanded that Black communities reject the narrative that "Black People are Deficient In Every Damn Thing and There are No 'Good' Black Men",[31] and called for a "World Where Ending Partner Violence Was A Priority" in a "Black (Feminist) Future where Gendered socialization will be declared a public health emergency."[32]

Media appearances

Akili has delivered keynotes, lectures, and led panels at National African American MSM Leadership Conference on HIV/AIDS and Other Health Disparities,[33]Claremont McKenna College,[34][35] AIDS United,[36] Vanderbilt University,[37] Ramapo College,[38] Harvard University,[39] University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign,[40] Clayton State University, Baruch College, Agnes Scott College, Fordham University, Northern Illinois University, and Columbia University.

Awards

He was awarded the Creative Leadership Award in 2009 by the Feminist Women's Health Center for his work promoting feminism.[41] After releasing his book Dear Universe in 2013,[42] Akili was recognized by BET as a "Health Hero" for his work addressing emotional health in the Black community.[43] He appeared on NBC News in 2016 as a part of Jarrett Hill's Back to Reality podcast, to discuss popular culture in the Black community.[44] He was recognized by Blavity as one of "28 Young Black Creators And Leaders Making History Today" in 2018.[45][46] That same year, in recognition of his work promoting the intersection between mental health and social justice, he was nominated by AIDS United to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation which awarded him its Health Equity Award.[47] On the heels of this accolade, he was declared a "Health Equity Hero" by TheBody.com.[48] In 2019 he was recognized by Essence Magazine as a part of their Black History Month coverage for his work "Aiding in The Resistance" in the Black LGBTQ+ community.[49] On June 10, 2020, Jordan Peele announced that he was donating $1 million dollars to five Black Lives Matters centered organizations through his production firm MonkeyPaw Productions, including Akili and BEAM which received $200K.[50][51] That same month, Akili was celebrated for his work during BET's 2020 Music Awards, where it was announced that Well's Fargo Bank was rewarding Akili and BEAM $25K for their work.[52][53]

References
  1. "The Universe Loves You!: Dear Universe: Letters of Affirmation and Empowerment for All of Us by Yolo Akili – The Feminist Wire". Retrieved 2019-07-24.
  2. Akili, Yolo (2013). Dear Universe: Letters of Affirmation and Empowerment for All of Us. Micheal Todd Books. ISBN 978-0615772141.
  3. "Yolo Akili Robison". BEAM.
  4. "Author Archive for: EBANMAN Author". EbanMan.
  5. "Yolo Akili's poetry transcends sexual identity". Georgia Voice - Gay & LGBT Atlanta News. 2010-04-30. Retrieved 2019-07-24.
  6. "Our Proclamation". Sweet Tea.
  7. "50 Winners Who Are Helping Others Win: #20 Yolo Akili". Rize Up Magazine.
  8. Akili, Yolo (May 16, 2019). "My Rise from Abusive Relationships, Depression, and Shame". Shondaland.
  9. Proctor, Dwayne (May 1, 2019). "Where Mental Health and Social Justice Meet". Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
  10. Hashmall, Sarah (December 7, 2018). "Meet Health Equity Hero Yolo Akili Robinson". AIDS United.
  11. "Joseph Beam". BEAM.
  12. Stallings, Erika (August 1, 2018). "This Is How the American Healthcare System Is Failing Black Women". Oprah Magazine.
  13. Zitter, Jessica (June 29, 2019). "The Never-Ending Mistreatment of Black Patients".
  14. Dawkins, Farida (February 6, 2018). "NYU Steinhardt: Hiding mental illness can do far more harm than good". Face2Face Africa.
  15. "Meet Yolo Akili Robinson of BEAM (Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective)". Voyage LA. May 14, 2019.
  16. Akili, Yolo (June 19, 2017). "Black Mental Health Literacy Matters". HuffPost.
  17. Wissa, Nyla (March 7, 2019). "How BEAM Is Changing the Way We Look at Black Mental Health". Shondaland.
  18. "Getting Real About Your Mental Health". Shondaland. October 12, 2018.
  19. Sosin, Kate (March 7, 2019). "Why Are So Many LGBTQ Groups Staying Silent About This #MeToo Scandal?". Splinter News.
  20. Guha, Rohin (January 25, 2014). "The Myth of the Fag Hag and Dirty Secrets of the Gay Male Subculture". Jezebel.
  21. Akili, Yolo (May 4, 2012). "Gay Men's Sexism and Women's Bodies". The Good Men Project.
  22. "Ask A Mental Health Advocate: Q&A with Yolo Akili". Scotch Porter Journal. June 5, 2019.
  23. Jordan, Niema (November 1, 2018). "When It Comes To Sexual Assault, Black Women Have The Right To Heal". Essence Magazine.
  24. Helm, Angela (December 1, 2017). "On This World AIDS Day, Where Do We Go From Here?". The Root.
  25. "Culture Clash: The Danger in Downplaying Black Experiences in Mental Healthcare". NYU Steinhardt. October 4, 2017.
  26. Kipke, Michele (January 24, 2019). "A Focus on the HIV Care Continuum Through the Healthy Young Men's Cohort Study: Protocol for a Mixed-Methods Study". JMIR Research Protocols. 8 (1): e10738. doi:10.2196/10738. PMC 6365874. PMID 30679146.
  27. "A Focus on the HIV Care Continuum Through the Healthy Young Men's Cohort Study: Protocol for a Mixed-Methods Study". PubFacts. January 24, 2019.
  28. "Escaping the Sunken Place: 6 Reasons Why You Need Therapy". Cassius | born unapologetic | News, Style, Culture. 2018-06-11. Retrieved 2019-07-24.
  29. "Toxic Masculinity: Shifting The Conversation From Talk To Action". Cassius | born unapologetic | News, Style, Culture. 2018-01-31. Retrieved 2019-07-23.
  30. Akili, Yolo (June 25, 2014). "On Leaving the Prison of Tops and Bottoms". HuffPost.
  31. Akili, Yolo (January 3, 2014). "Two Narratives the Black Community Needs to Give Up in the New Year". HuffPost.
  32. Akili, Yolo (February 19, 2016). "Black Futures: Imagining A World Where Ending Partner Violence Was A Priority". HuffPost.
  33. "A Necessary Moment of Self-Care for Black Gay, Trans and Queer People Living and Working on the HIV Front Lines | TheBodyPro". www.thebodypro.com. Retrieved 2019-07-23.
  34. Claremont McKenna College (2016-09-27), Black Masculinity in America - Yolo Akili Robinson, retrieved 2019-07-23
  35. "Events | Claremont McKenna College". www.cmc.edu. Retrieved 2019-07-23.
  36. ""We Shall Not Be Removed" sparks discussion about HIV/AIDS among black gay and bisexual men". GLAAD. 2015-01-27. Retrieved 2019-07-23.
  37. "Out In Front 2012 Registration!". Vanderbilt University. Retrieved 2019-07-23.
  38. "Yolo Akili Robinson Speaks About LGBT Violence". ramaponews. Retrieved 2019-07-23.
  39. "LGBTQ CONFERENCE AT HARVARD". LGBTQ Conference at Harvard. Retrieved 2019-07-23.
  40. "Poet Yoko Akili discusses societal stereotypes, issues of black masculinity". The Daily Illini. 2012-04-12. Retrieved 2019-07-23.
  41. lgiordano. "MSV's Yolo Akili Receives Creative Leadership Award | Men Stopping Violence". Retrieved 2019-07-23.
  42. "Gay author Yolo Akili seeks emotional healing in 'Dear Universe'". The Georgia Voice. May 30, 2013.
  43. "Health Hero: Healing Our Community With Affirmation and Empowerment". BET. May 13, 2013.
  44. Neil, Shane Paul (November 4, 2016). "BLK to Reality: Your Week in Review: Stand Up or Watch". NBC News.
  45. Williams, Justin Michael (February 1, 2018). "Honoring 28 Young Black Creators And Leaders Making History Today". Blavity News.
  46. "Re: Yolo Akili". YouTube. May 20, 2019.
  47. "RWJF Award for Health Equity". Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
  48. Hashmall, Sarah (December 10, 2018). "Meet Health Equity Hero Yolo Akili Robinson". TheBody.com.
  49. Higgins, John (February 5, 2019). "Black History Now: Black LGBTQ+ Aiding In The Resistance". Essence Magazine.
  50. "Jordan Peele donates $1 million to groups 'essential to the health and lives of Black people'". EW.com. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
  51. Dowling, Amber. "Jordan Peele donates $1 million to BLM organizations". etalk. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
  52. Darian (2020-06-29). "BET AWARDS: Black, Gay 'BEAM' Founder Yolo Akili Robinson Spotlighted For Mental Health Advocacy". LIVING OUT LOUD 2.0. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
  53. http://# (2020-06-29). "Mental Health Activist Yolo Akili Robinson Honored By BETAwards". Instinct Magazine. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
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